To ask what your goal salary is?

[SmokeyApo]

Hi all, just being nosey here

I have been thinking a lot about career progression and asking for a raise lately, and that got me thinking about what my goal salary is. As in, the salary that I would like to earn at the peak of my career (let's say between age 40 and 50).

So I will ask: what would your goal salary be?

I won't share mine for now just because I don't want to influence the answers, but I will happily share it later on.

I've never had salary goals. I've had lots of investment and savings goals and achieved more than enough to be retiring early with dp so happy with that.

@VanGoghsDog

Public sector says it all! People do negotiate their package (even in the public sector), just because you haven't. You dismiss companies who don't pay 15% pensions - you might find they pay much bigger salaries and allow their team to be grown up enough to organise their own financial futures. I'm glad you are happy with your package but you are wrong - people can and should negotiate their package.

Actually this is my first public sector job. I do contract work, I've worked for banks, builders, IT companies, cleaners, pharmacies, retail.......
This job is a year, it was originally 6m but they have extended me.

I'm a senior HR person, I work with the team that makes the offers, so I know full well what negotiations are possible and what happen. The only negotiation is on salary. No discussion about the rest of the package. Same in my last two roles.

I also run my own consultancy, none of my clients allow negotiation of pension payments.

And yes, of course I have negotiated salary before. But pension is never up for discussion.

I never said I "dismiss companies who don't pay 15%", stop making things up. I've never managed to work for a company with a shit pension offering, even small companies pay more than 5%. The one three contracts ago had 65 staff and we paid 8%. I put in place the policy of allowing people to convert to cash if they had reached the LTA. I also introduced using salary sacrifice and paying the employer's NI into the employee scheme.

I've plenty of experience of packages and how they are negotiated.

Senior HR person 53 years old with a £300,000 pension - you aren't doing that well for all your boasting about what your employer's contribution. You do dismiss companies who pay less pension contribution but private companies give options - they can negotiate with their staff - don't judge what you don't know.

I am 32 and earn £22k. That’s enough to cover all my bills at the moment but I have to work 40 hours a week to get it. I go on maternity leave at the end of month but there’s no way I’m going back to that. I would prefer either the same money but a 30 hour (or less) week, or the same hours but at least £25k instead.

My partner earns slightly less than I do, but will probably match me by the time I’m working again.

£1k per year of age

Senior HR person 53 years old with a £300,000 pension - you aren't doing that well for all your boasting about what your employer's contribution. You do dismiss companies who pay less pension contribution but private companies give options - they can negotiate with their staff - don't judge what you don't know.

You're really weirdly defensive and fixated here you know.

I haven't always put money in my pension, I have plenty of other assets. I do also have a final salary pension though, I didn't include that in the £300k, I've not got a valuation of it.

I'm not "boasting" about my employer contribution for goodness sake.

I've certainly never rejected an employer for paying less than 15%, I've no idea where you got that idea. My last contract was Santander, they don't pay 15%. The one before that was self employed, no pension contribution, but obviously a far higher rate of pay.

I have worked for and with literally hundreds of private companies. I know what they CAN negotiate, I also know what they DO negotiate (unlike you).

I'm currently on 24k and goal would be at least 80k. I'm currently working full time in a job that I dont like, studying for exams in my spare time and I have a toddler. It's hard but I dont enjoy the field I'm in, I find it mind numbing so I'm retraining.

I find it really hard to have such little time with my child. In an ideal world I would be part time (say work 3 days) on 50k for a while, then go full time for at least 80k and make clever money decisions so I have the choice of working if I want to or not.

Although on divorce many people realise (or sadly don't so get ripped off) that their pension is their most valuable asset, in practice lots of people like I am are self employed so only get a state pension in my case at age 67 years which is about £150 a week or something like that and is taxable with any other income you might have.

those who are employed must now be offered their NEST auto enrolment pension they and their employer pay into but employees can opt out if they want eg if they know they will die young or will not be working their long etc etc My father put all his spare money into his NHS and additional private pensions but then worked full time to age 77 and died at 79 so although he loved having that comfort of a big pension (about £60k a year before tax when he died) he did not get much value from it.

I look at lots of employment contracts and I don't think you can generlise over who negotiates what. Senior people who are bringing technology to company and it is a start up type thing might find they can negotiate all sorts if the other investor is rich. Others (most) are told this is the pay, we have a pension of XYZ and people generally just try to negotiate the pay (women don't do this s much as man which is one reason women over 30 in the UK earn less than men - they simply don't ask for more enough). Sometimes people try to negotiate a bit of extra holiday if it is a small and flexible company and where they can work and if they can take on a non competing job at weekends and that kind of thing and I am sure financial services senior people negotiate over the bonus and that kind of thing.

The good thing about discussions like this thread is people realise what other women do and don't earn, what they or their children might aim for, what sacrifices some have made to get what they have and what choices might have been made eg to move a husband away from his job and both of you from family for higher pay, to move into a dire tiny flat when you might have had a large house in Durham, to work full time all week and take a second job at weekends, to work until you go into labour and in my case back in 2 weeks full time (or taking business called the next day after having the twins as I was). Other people have no choice at all eg can never find any work ever or cannot get higher paid work or whatever.

I did no work yesterday which is rare for me as I usually work on each of the 365 days of the year at least to some extent... actually I did one 10 minute task. My second daughter was married yesterday. I suppose even in my 50s I ma balance work and children although it is dead easy when the children are at university stage compared to my 5 non sleeping babies who seemed to breastfeed every 2 or 3 hours at night.

There's no possibility to negotiate on pensions in any of the private places I've worked, and I'm in sales so always negotiate (one of the criteria I look for in hiring a sales person is how hard they negotiate over their salary). Pensions and perks are always non negotiable as it opens up a can of worms for other departments to start negotiating on theirs too. The only thing we have leeway to negotiate on is salary and bonus compensation, but even with the latter, the pot is the same it's just how you spread the risk against milestone targets.

My pensions in the corporate world have been shit. The companies I've worked for only pay on your basic salary (which is about a third of my salary typically), and pay the least they can get away with. My current company is much better and matches up to 6%, which is still crap but I'm actually seeing that pot accrue something compared to the others.

If you can negotiate for a higher salary - can't you add your uplift to your pension? Or does your company not allow that? I didn't realise there was a limit to employee contributions.

No, not at any of the companies I've worked at, or any of the ones I've enquired about. Pension is fixed, it's something I've always enquired about as I'm behind on it having done a PhD and worked abroad for several years where my pension from there isn't transferable (France).

I'm C level in my current company so I know for sure it's a blanket wide policy implemented here.

I invest elsewhere to make up the shortfall these days.

Went for years and years on 24k. Never ever thought I'd earn more. Now on 31k and I feel rich. Funny old world isn't it.

I’m 49, I earn £70k, and I’m in a final salary pension scheme.

Left school at 16, with 3 GCSEs, working at Maccy Ds for £1.64 per hour.

It’s been an interesting journey with lots of strange jobs, extra studying, moving about, but, I’m in a good place now.

My daughter in in Y10, with high functioning autism, lockdown has caused her huge anxiety, and she hasn’t done much school in the last year. She’s intelligent, but, not sure GCSEs are in the immediate future, she’ll be ok though, there are lots of pathways in life

@79andnotout

No, not at any of the companies I've worked at, or any of the ones I've enquired about. Pension is fixed, it's something I've always enquired about as I'm behind on it having done a PhD and worked abroad for several years where my pension from there isn't transferable (France).

I'm C level in my current company so I know for sure it's a blanket wide policy implemented here.

I invest elsewhere to make up the shortfall these days.

That's really surprising that you can't chose to add to your own pension. I can see why they wouldn't want to match your additions but to prevent you doing so seems irrational.

If you can negotiate for a higher salary - can't you add your uplift to your pension? Or does your company not allow that? I didn't realise there was a limit to employee contributions

Well, you are limited to 100% of your salary or £40k anyway.
Some employers limit employee payments made by salary sacrifice that I won't go into here because it's really technical. But most employers don't put a general limit on what you can pay in and they leave the £40k and LTA concerns to the individual.

But you can't negotiate the employer %, obviously the higher your salary the higher the £ that goes in.

those who are employed must now be offered their NEST auto enrolment pension

It doesn't have to be NEST, that's just one provider. I'm now in my fourth organisation since auto enrolment and not one of them used NEST. Also, none of my private clients use it. Though I do recommend it to small employers.

@CodeforYear ah yes I mean matched contributions. You can stick more in yourself if you want.

As in, the salary that I would like to earn at the peak of my career (let's say between age 40 and 50).

As someone in their 50s who has just been promoted, what do you intend to do in your career for the last 20 years of your career? You'll be working till 70 probably. Also, the idea of being at the peak in your 40s is rather dependent on not having a career history broken by maternity leave and PT work. A lot of the women I work with their career doesn't take off until their 40s when childcare responsibilities lessen.

[quote 79andnotout]@CodeforYear ah yes I mean matched contributions. You can stick more in yourself if you want. [/quote]
So while you can't negotiate for matched contributions - you can negotiate for a higher salary and stick more in yourself - people seem very reluctant to do this - it's almost like they see the costs of pension and salary as somehow different - I see why most employers don't negotiate on Pension - it's not valued in the same way as salary.

If your company wanted to give you an extra £5k a year and said we can put that in your pension or add it to your salary - what would you choose?

@CodeforYear yes this would be a good approach for some. I don't as my financial advisor advised me to invest in other ways.

I’ll be happy to live on anything 30k+ without having to worry but still living within my means. - I’m currently on 20k but every month is a stretch.

I’d quite like to earn £60 per hour (or £1 per minute). I’m not quite there yet though - I’m currently at £56.60 (I work FT - 37.5 hours per week, and my payslips tell me my hourly rate).

@OublietteBravo what do you do for a living?

Asking for me, not a friend.

I’m a Patent Attorney

I charge my clients £360 an hour actually ( lawyer) but lots of my hours are admin, business development, reading legal cases etc and I have some expenses despite working from home. I could have bought a small house with my insurance payments for work since 1994 and never had a claim or a complaint so money down the drain but compulsory,